The Invitation
by secilmis yazar
Summary: Kingsley wants to talk to Tonks... For what?
1. Chapter 1

**a/N:** Hello! I'm not dead, y'know... Just been lazy. Way too lazy, for my own taste. This was written in July, for God's sake! anyway, I promise I'll update it this time! Please R&R!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. Just the plot.

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"Why, of course Dumbledore is telling the truth! I don't know what Fudge is trying to do, but he'll probably fail. Anyway, I don't understand why Dumbledore isn't doing anything either! And-" before the talker could complete, she earned a nudge from the woman beside her.

"Tonks, shh!" said the woman who nudged the other one –Tonks- beside her and she nodded towards the open door. Looking there, Tonks suddenly looked alarmed and shut up, going back to work.

She had been talking to her colleague, Caroline, about Dumbledore, and she knew she had to keep her mouth shut about "dangerous" issues, as Caroline put it. It would get her into trouble with Fudge. There were his spies everywhere, ratting out the ones who were on Dumbledore's side. She'd even heard that that Dolores Umbridge was looking for a way to kick Arthur Weasley, Charlie's dad, out just because he was so close to both Harry Potter and Dumbledore. After this last drop she heard, she couldn't contain it anymore. She just had to get it out.

And now it looked like she was going to pay for her recklessness. She had looked towards where Caroline had nodded to, and met eyes with Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had a strange expression on his face. Almost glad. He'd clearly heard what he was saying.

"Of course he'd be glad," Tonks thought as she eyed Caroline carefully, who looked determined about not meeting her eyes. "He can go straight to Fudge now!" She strongly hoped that he hasn't seen who Tonks was talking to. She didn't want Caroline to lose her job along with her. She looked at the paperwork before her, filled with fear of what Shacklebolt might do.

She sighed at the end of the day, when Caroline bolted out of the office without even a single glance towards Tonks. The latter took her Weird Sisters bag absent-mindedly, knocking her pencil case down along the way. She didn't bother to pick it up. She practically ran out of the room- or ran as much as she could, give her clumsy nature.

While she was walking and trying not to bump into anyone in the crowd, she heard her name.

"Tonks! Tonks, hang on!"

Shacklebolt, she realized with annoyance and fear. "Why can't he simply leave me alone?" She then thought bitterly, "Oh, maybe because Fudge finally gave him permission to hand the pink slip to me."

With this thought, she quickened her steps. After saying "Sorry," a few times, she finally reached her fireplace. She usually went home via Apparting, but today she didn't feel in the mood.

The last thing before she got to her small, untidy flat was Shacklebolt's face, just a moment late to talk to her.

The next day she spent most of her time in her office, trying not to be seen much. Obviously Caroline was thinking the same too, for she stayed in her table across the room all day, not looking at Tonks once again.

Throughout the day, she saw Kingsley through the small window on the office door more than once. Every time, he would glance shortly inside, as if he's looking for something, then he would leave.

At five o'clock, she picked her things up, dropped few things and this time, not risking being seen by Kingsley, she apparted straight from office to home.

Two hours later, just when she was thinking about preparing the dinner her mum has sent to her ("You're starved! Merlin, how did I ever let you get an apartment on your own?"), she heard a knock.

"Tonks? Are you in there? I gotta talk to you! Tonks!"

Tonks sighed. Kingsley again. He was most probably there to take her to Fudge, get her yelled at, and then fired.

She didn't want to go. Not after three years of training. What a torture that had been! She stopped moving. She hoped that if she stayed silent, maybe he'd go away.

Minutes ticked by. Tonks just stood there, not even daring to move. Kingsley was turning out to be just as stubborn as Tonks was, he didn't move either. Tonks silently thanked the security spells that her father insisted she had.

after waiting for minutes, doing nothing, a plan started to form in Tonks' head. a plan to postpone her job loss. Then she started to doubt her actions.

"Though maybe he is here for something else... Maybe I should simple open the door... Maybe-"

Her eyes caught a photo on the mantelpiece. It was her graduation photo. With Moody. Her eyes rested on Moody's distorted features for a while, and his voice chimed into her ears. "Constant vigilance!" She shook her head and went on with her now fully-formed plan. No one could be trusted, especially with You-Know-Who back.

So she started to climb the stairs. The stairs were all rug, to cushion her when she fell, so she made little sound.

When she reached her room, she snapped open her wardrobe doors.

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**a/N:** Darn, finally uploading something decent made me feel _so_ good...

melissaeverlasting, thank you! =)


	2. Chapter 2

a/N: I updated! I did, I did! and billions of thanks to my beta, melissaeverlasting!

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She started rummaging through her clothes, looking for something in particular. Her wardrobe needed some serious cleaning-up, she decided, after spending five minutes on finding what she was looking for.

Then she finally found it. It was a hideous pink robe, given to her by her mother a couple of Christmases ago. She had never worn it. She strongly hoped that it would fit.

She put it on in the speed of lightning, perfecting her plan and spilling a glass of water on the floor as she did so. She turned towards the full-length mirror. She shut her eyes tightly, as if she were trying to remember something.

She felt the changes all at once. Her hair turned back to her original color -mousy brown-, keeping its length and becoming curlier as it did so. Her eyes grew bigger and her body shorter and plumper.

When she opened her eyes, Dolores Umbridge stared back. Her eyes were full of disgust and fear. Then Umbridge's plump and clumsy body turned around and she left the room as fast as she could. She grabbed her wand and went through the back door, towards the front door.

"Hem hem." Kingsley jumped and turned around.

"Madam Umbridge?" His booming voice was full of surprise. "What brings you to this neighborhood?"

Tonks panicked. Then she answered, using her best Umbridge-like voice, "I- I'm afraid I must ask the same question, Shacklebolt."

"I'm here to pay a visit to my fellow Auror Nymphadora Tonks, sir," he said respectfully.

Tonks opened her huge eyes even bigger. Then she asked the question she had been dying to get an answer to. "Why, I must ask?" Though she highly doubted that Kingsley would tell the truth.

Kingsley pondered a moment. "The Minister's orders, sir." He looked like he wanted to give out as little information as possible.

Tonks wasn't satisfied, though. "But Cornelius- I mean, the Minister would've let me know. Has she done anything wrong?" She glanced as darkly as possible to her own house. "I hear she supports Dumbledore," she said in a whisper. Better to whisper than high-pitch her voice.

At that precise moment, she saw Kingsley's hand fly to his robe pocket. So the idea of Dumbledore frightened him, too.

"I didn't know that, sir. But it is highly possible."

He didn't? That was a lie. And why would he lie to Umbridge, if he was really there because Fudge told him so?

She hesitated a bit before talking this time.

"Really, then why-" Kingsley had his wand pointed at her. Then-

"Obliviate!" Tonks flew to the grass swiftly, something that could not be expected from Umbridge's untrained body. She too snapped her wand out and yelled, "Protego!" Kingsley's second Memory Charm bounced off her shield.

Under her protection, she changed her features back to normal. "It's me! Hey, it's me! Tonks! Peace!"

Kingsley looked shocked. "T- Tonks?" he stammered. "What the- !"

Tonks was up on her feet by the time. She ripped the pink robe off her and went towards the front door.

"You what! If you're not firing me, then what are you doing here?" she questioned crossly. She opened her door. "Come in!" Without really waiting for a reply, she walked in, Kingsley hot on her heels. After they both were in, Tonks shut the door.

"Yes?" she asked, hands on her hips. Kingsley was busy charming every single window and door. Tonks became more and more irritated..

"If it's okay, can I ask what you're doing?" she snarled. Kingsley didn't speak until he was finished.

"OK, no one can hear us now. Before I start, by the way, what was that stunt for?"

Tonks gritted her teeth. "Look who's asking! After two days of staring, right after hearing me siding with Dumbledore, you practically track me to my door! How was I supposed to react? I thought you were trying to arrest me or something!" She took a deep breath. "And I still don't even know why you're here.."

There was a tense silence. Then Kingsley laughed. Tonks looked murderous.

"No, don't look at me like that... It's just- I don't want to tell Fudge anything. Not even to Scrimgeour. There's a request I'd like to make."

Tonks raised her eyebrows. Kingsley chuckled again.

"Moody would've been proud. Constant vigilance, eh?"

"He was my instructor," Tonks snapped. "Go on."

"Now you trust me? OK, OK," he added after catching Tonks' glare.

"There's this Order, the Order of the Phoenix which Dumbledore established. To protect people from You-Know-Who, and to kill him, if possible. What I'm asking -What Dumbledore's asking, actually- is you to join us."

Tonks froze. They wanted the clumsy stupid newly-made auror in this Order thing? When she voiced this, Knigsley chuckled again.

"Well, we know you're not stupid, I'm fully convinced after all that drama before... and your clumsiness? We can deal with that. are you in or what?" Tonks thought for a moment. "What is this thing? I mean, exactly."

Kingsley explained everything to her, though she wasn't convinced until she heard Arthur, Bill and Charlie Weasley were in, too.

That night, long after Kingsley was gone, she thought about how Dumbledore was actually doing something, and how she would help him change the world.

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